Harry Potter and the Flight of the Black Phoenix
by Pottergals
Summary: This is set just after Goblet of Fire but before OOTP so it is a bit different-please just imagine its before OOTP!lol
1. 1: The Trip

CHAPTER 1 - THE TRIP  
  
It was the most wonderful feeling Harry ever experienced. He was flying through the air, feeling the wind blow by and through his entire body. The warm sun was glowing all over him and some birds were flying by, singing merrily. He raced them, not knowing where to, just knowing he was having the best time of his life. As Harry was shooting ahead, he looked forward, and saw a thin line on the ground.  
Harry threw his hands back, getting a sudden burst of speed. He was going far faster than the birds now, he could hear their voices trailing behind him, getting farther and farther behind him. The thin line was getting closer as Harry sped up. As he got nearer to it, the Sun's warmth became slightly colder, and the wind was blowing much harder. Despite this, he continued on, having a huge desire to see what the line was dividing.  
Harry suddenly realized that he was shivering, and his teeth were chattering. The wind was approaching the speeds of that of a hurricane. It just kept blowing harder and harder, until Harry was unable to fight against it any longer. So, he fell.  
He was falling, falling, falling. Faster, faster and faster. The ground was rushing at him. He fell through the clouds, and could just about make out the top of some houses. He could see some cars. Now, he could make out someone below him. Harry abruptly realized what was happening, and he let out a scream, anticipating the painful impact. when all of a sudden he felt hands below him.  
Someone had caught him. Harry let out a sigh of relief. The hands below him felt bony and weak, they were concealed in a long flowing black robe. Harry looked up to see the face that went with the arms, and as soon as his eyes met the face, he wished he hadn't been caught at all. It felt as though there was a brick in his stomach that suddenly moved up out of his mouth, escaping with a scream. The face belong to Voldemort. He merely gave Harry a small grin.  
Harry jumped out of Voldemort's hands, and started running away. Green rays were shooting by him, and Harry recognized the green rays as killing curse beams. He kept running, not knowing where he was going. All of a sudden, he saw someone! Two people actually, a man and a woman. they looked very familiar.  
Harry ran as fast as he could towards them, spells still shooting by him every second. All Harry did was try and concentrate on the people ahead of him. As soon as he got a little closer to them, he realized who they were. they were his parents.  
The woman was tall, and had red hair and unmistakable green eyes. She was cradling a bundle of blankets in her arms. it looked like a baby. Next to her, there was an even taller skinny man with untidy black hair. He was staring down at the bundle of blankets.  
What were they doing here? Weren't they. dead? All of these questions were running through Harry's mind when he suddenly remembered how he had gotten to see his parents in the first place. Voldemort!  
"We have to get out of here!" Harry yelled to them. But, it was as if he didn't even say anything. or exist for that matter. His mom kept cradling the bundle of blankets, and his dad was just watching her.  
"Voldemort's here!" yelled Harry as loud as he could. "We have to go!"  
This time, they looked at him, and Harry felt relief come over him. Then, he felt a hand come over his shoulder, and squeeze down hard. He didn't even have to turn around to see who it was that was holding onto him. the bony fingers gave it all away.  
"Give me the boy." Voldemort hissed.  
"You already know we won't," said Harry's dad.  
"We had an agreement," said his mom, setting the bundle down into a cradle next to her that seemed to have just appeared. What agreement? Harry never knew that his parents had ever made some sort of deal with Voldemort.  
"Yes, well. that agreement did not benefit me enough to continue it," said Voldemort. "I would rather just take the boy now."   
"Never," said both of Harry's parents together.  
"If you will not give him to me, then I will take him by force!" yelled Voldemort, brandishing his wand. Harry saw his father immediately respond by taking his out too. But, he wasn't fast enough.  
"Avada Kedavra!" yelled Voldemort. The familiar green flash brightened the white oblivion round them. where had the world gone? It seemed to have all just disappeared.  
That was the last thing on Harry's mind, though. He saw his father be hit by the Killing Curse, and fall to the ground with a large thud. He was dead.  
"No! James!" yelled Harry's mom, running over to him.  
"Now give me the boy and you shall live," said Voldemort, pointing his wand right at Harry's mom.  
"I shall never hand him over to you, even if it means my death!" she said.  
"Very well then." said Voldemort. "Avada Kedavra!"  
The world flashed green again, and Harry's mother collapsed to the floor, right on top of James. Voldemort walked over to the cradle that the baby version of Harry was in. He gave a sickening version of a smile, and pointed his wand right at Harry, and mumbled the Killing Curse.  
Suddenly, there was a massive explosion like none Harry had ever experienced before. It was as if a nuclear bomb went off right in front of his eyes. The entire world turned black for an instant, and Voldemort, and his mom and dad were blown away. It lasted for only a second though. and Harry was back in his white, infinite oblivion. all alone this time.  
"Harry.", came a voice. It was a soft, soothing voice that was barely loud enough to be heard. Harry ran toward where he thought the voice was coming from, though the world around him was appearing to get lighter.  
"Harry." This time, the voice was slightly louder. Harry ran faster. maybe it was his mom! Maybe she didn't die after all! The voice rang out again, and again and Harry ran faster and faster, not caring that he was getting tired.  
"Harry!", yelled the voice. It was not soothing at all this time, it was instead very harsh and loud. The world around Harry was spinning now, with many colours. The voice was yelling at him almost every second, and the world was coming into a blurry focus. Harry shook his head, rubbed his eyes and looked around. He was in a small room. in a bed. with pajamas on. what was going on?  
It now came to Harry that he had been dreaming, and was back now in his real life. However, Harry's real life is nothing like ours. Harry is a wizard. Though, not a full wizard yet. He is still a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
Harry threw his covers off himself, and climbed groggily out of bed. Every second he moved, he lost more and more memory of the dream he had. He remembered seeing his mom. and something about Voldemort. but that was it.  
He groped around the table next to his bed fro his glasses and put them on. Now his room came into focus and he walked over to his closet to pick out some clothes.  
"HARRY!", yelled the voice. Now Harry knew who was making it, his Aunt Petunia. His door exploded open and she blasted through.  
"Harry get down here this- oh!", she saw Harry while he was changing his pants and all he had on was his underwear. She quickly backed out of the room and yelled, just as loudly as before, "Get downstairs now! It's Dudley's birthday, and you're late! We need you to make breakfast!"  
Harry heard her go downstairs. Harry quickly finished changing into his clothes and went to the door. He opened it, and turned around to look at his room before he went down. It contained many things that would be in our dreams: there was a cauldron by his bed that contained books on magic. Next to the window in his room was an owl cage that contained Harry's owl, Hedwig. She was a snowy white owl that was used to send and receive letters. Harry's two most recent letters were on his wall next to Hedwig. Once was from Hermione Granger, one of Harry's best friends from Hogwarts. It read:   
Dear Harry,  
  
Since I won't be able to send you another letter soon, happy birthday. I am having a great time here with Viktor at his house, I hope you are doing well with your aunt and uncle. Even though I've been with Viktor, I have been doing a lot of thinking, especially about what Dumbledore said last year. Since You-Know-Who (most wizards were too afraid to use Voldemort's real name, so they said 'You-Know-Who' instead) is back, you'll have to be extra careful since you do seem to run into him often. I've also been wondering about what the jobs are that Dumbledore sent everyone to do. I guess we'll find out this September. Sincerely, Hermione   
That letter was exactly like Hermione. Always worried and concerned, though never forgetting to do work. However, she did have some good points. Harry was wondering about what Dumbledore said last year. He sent Hagrid (the groundskeeper at Hogwarts) on a secret Summer job, he sent Professor Snape (Harry's potion's teacher who was Harry's only reason to dislike Hogwarts) as some sort of spy to Voldemort, and Dumbledore asked the rest of the professors to "gather the old crowd".  
Harry was also surprised, in reading Hermione's letter, that she did go to Krum's mansion for the Summer. Viktor Krum, the excellent Quidditch player, he was the Seeker on the Bulgarian Quidditch team, the same position Harry played on the Hogwarts Gryffindor House's Quidditch team. At the end of the year, she said she was still "thinking about it", so Harry assumed she wasn't going to go. He couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts and ask her all about it.  
The other letter on Harry's wall was from his other best friend at Hogwarts, Ron Weasley. It read:   
Hey Harry! Hope you're well, I know we're not doing too good here. That money you gave Fred and George last year, I'm not sure if that was such a good idea. They now seem more determined than ever to set up their joke shop, and since they got so much money from you for funding, mom can't object to them doing it. Every day, it seems, they have some new invention that they're more than willing to test out on us. When we're not turning into an animal or something from eating a sweet, our faces turn green, or we grow an extra ear on our forehead.  
Because of the chaos here, I doubt we'll be able to come over and help you if the Muggles try and keep you from coming back to Hogwarts, or just make you miserable. So, I gave Pig a map that leads you from your house to our house. It took a while to make since dad's Muggle maps can't talk. I hope you don't have to use it in an emergency, but go ahead and use it to get here for fun! See ya soon! Ron   
Harry had the map in his pocket at all times, just in case he needed it. Even though the names of the roads and towns were written very messily, Harry guessed he could just fly to the Weasley's house on his broomstick if he really had to.  
Harry couldn't help but laugh when he came to the part about Fred and George's joke shop. Last year, Fred and George, decided they wanted to open up Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and make their living doing that. Mrs. Weasley, whose other three sons had graduated from Hogwarts and gone into "respectable" businesses, except for maybe Charlie who bred Dragons, would have nothing to do with their joke shop idea and destroyed all their inventions. Later that year, Harry won a tournament at school, and got a thousand galleons. Already having a small fortune inherited from his parents, Harry gave the money to Fred and George to support their business since he liked the idea.  
"HARRY! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" came a giant booming voice from downstairs. The voice belonged to his Uncle Vernon, obviously upset that Harry had taken so long to come down. However, Harry was used to this kind of treatment. The Dursley's hated magic in any form and, because of this, they despised Harry.  
So, even though Harry was used to this way of communication, he thought it best to not upset Uncle Vernon any more, and he started on his way downstairs, which turned out to be a good deal more difficult than other trips doing the same. Every step was littered with wrapping paper, boxes, cards, tape, bubble wrap, and even some forgotten presents. Though he tripped twice, Harry eventually made his way to the bottom of the staircase, and headed to the kitchen where he tended to the bacon and pancakes on the stove. His cousin, Dudley was sitting at the table that was an island in the sea of wrappings. He was opening another present right now.  
"Oooh another present! I wonder what it could be!" said Dudley as he tore open the next box in a giant pile next to him. Within two seconds, the present was open, and Dudley pulled out a giant red shirt. "Oh no, not another one!"  
"Another XXL size shirt Dudley?" laughed Uncle Vernon as Dudley began opening his next gift. "Well then, just be glad that you can't wear them anymore anyway." It was true though. Last Summer, Dudley might have been too small for that shirt but, since his school, Smeltings, did not store uniforms in that size, Dudley was forced on an extreme diet that must've been enforced throughout his entire year there due to the amazing amount of weight he lost. Dudley was just a little bigger than Harry now, who was extremely skinny after being practically starved by the Dursleys for ten years.  
"Yes!" said Dudley after opening his latest present. It was evidently some video game he had wanted as that was the only thing that could make Dudley so happy. Then, when Dudley reached for his next present, he let out a shriek.  
"Ah! There's only one left! Oh, but it's a big one!" Dudley walked over to the giant box which was at least as tall as Harry, and about five times as wide. Dudley ripped the ribbon off as fast as he could. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were smiling in the back.  
"Oh man! This one's gotta be good!" Dudley threw off the last of the wrapping to reveal.  
"Another box!" yelled Dudley. This made Harry look over from the stove. Wrapped in the box that Dudley had just opened was another box that was identical to the previous one in every way, except for the fact that it was smaller. However, this did not make Dudley and less determined, in fact he looked as though this was a present he really wanted to conquer.  
  
Just as Dudley threw off the ribbon of the latest box, Harry let out a laugh. Another box was inside that one, once again, identical to the last. Dudley quickly ripped through that one, and the present inside was again a box.  
This continued for fourteen more boxes until Dudley, looking like he might explode at any second, opened the last one which was about the size of a hamburger. Instead of there being another box inside, there was an envelope. Dudley opened it, and nearly fainted.  
"Oh. my. god!" he stuttered. Harry walked away from the stove and over towards the presents to see what could have possibly made Dudley speechless.  
"Get away from those boy!" yelled Uncle Vernon, "we didn't get one for you!"  
"What?" asked Harry, "one. one what?" questioned Harry.  
"Tickets! A ticket!" replied Uncle Vernon.  
"Tickets, to where?" asked Harry.  
"To. to. Hawaii!" yelled Dudley. He held up the three tickets that were bright yellow with hula dancers on them.  
"Wow, that's great. I think I'll just explode with happiness due to the fact that I'M NOT GOING!" yelled Harry. Even though he had never gone with the Dursley's on any of their trips, they had never rubbed it in his face so much.  
"That's right you're not going!" said Aunt Petunia. "We're taking YOU to Mrs. Figg's house next week, when we leave."  
Harry was not going to put up with this. It was almost his fifteenth birthday, and he didn't have to deal with his Aunt and Uncle's dictatorship over him anymore.  
"NO!", yelled Harry as loud as he could, his Aunt and Uncle looked appalled.  
"HOW DARE YOU TALK BACK-" said Uncle Vernon before he was cut off.  
"No! I'm NOT going to go to Mrs. Figg's, I'm going to Ron's house!" said Harry as he started running back upstairs, avoiding the presents. He could hear Uncle Vernon behind him, closing in.  
All Harry has to do was grab the map, his owl, and fly out on his broomstick, and the Dursleys would not be able to do anything about it. Nothing they owned could fly, and they would not pursue him into wizard lands anyway.  
Just as Harry reached the door, he felt Uncle Vernon's presence right behind him. Harry threw open the door, and saw the strangest sight he ever saw: his owl was fighting with a black phoenix.  
The phoenix was about five times as large as Hedwig, and a million times darker. It wasn't just black, it was a pure-black, with dark flames coming out all around it. It had an unnaturally long beak with small sharp teeth all around it. It was pulling Hedwig apart, feathers and blood were everywhere.  
Just then, the phoenix stopped fighting with Hedwig, and looked at Harry. There was an explosion of piercing, white-hot pain in Harry's forehead. He could feel himself falling backwards, then quickly falling into unconscious. He collapsed on the floor. 


	2. 2: Mirror Munchies

( A/N Hey guys!I know this story isn't exactly what has happened in the HP books so far but this was written ages ago Review please!!!)  
  
CHAPTER 2 - MIRROR-MUNCHIES  
  
Harry woke up what felt like days later to him, though it must've been only a few minutes. He shook himself up, and ran over to Hedwig. She looked like she had been mauled by a rubbish disposal. Harry picked her up into his arms and put her chest to his ears. She was still breathing, and he could feel her heart beating.  
Harry set her down on a bed, and looked through his cauldron for his wand. When he found his wand, he took it out of the cauldron, and pointed it at Hedwig.  
"Anicure!" said Harry. Even though he wasn't allowed to use magic out of school for fun, if a life and death situation arose, it was legal.  
A small, glowing blue mist flew out of Harry's wand and into Hedwig. She glowed bright yellow for a second, then went back to her normal white. She opened her eyes, and ruffled her feathers. Hedwig then flew back to her cage, and let out a large hoot. As she flew over, Harry looked around his room, and almost screamed when he saw Dudley, just sitting there in a chair in the corner of his room.  
"Dudley." gasped Harry. "What are you doing here?"  
"I have something for you," he said, standing up with his arms behind his back.  
"Dudley," sighed Harry, "I don't have time for this right now, my owl is hurt and-"  
"Here," said Dudley, extending his arm to Harry. Right on top of his palm, there was a small, brown box. What was he up to? Dudley had never given Harry a real present in his life! Could it really be real?  
"Take it," said Dudley, sensing Harry's hesitation. Harry was almost afraid to take it, it was probably just another one of his pathetic jokes. "I promise its not a joke, just take it, alright?"  
There was something about the way he said it that convinced Harry. With a questioning look on his face, Harry grabbed the small box out of Dudley's hand, and opened it. Inside, there was the most beautiful watch he had ever seen.  
It was made out of some sort of green crystal, it shimmered all over. At the place in the watch where the face would be, there were a tiny snake-head, with two red rubies for the eyes, and its tongue going around as the hand. It was intricately carved all over, to look like not just any snake, but a Basilisk! The king of all snakes!  
"Th- thanks, Dudley," said Harry, having no clue what to think. Throughout his entire life, Dudley had never even said one nice thing to Harry, much less give something to him. voluntarily. Maybe he had turned over a new leaf.  
"Happy Birthday!" said Dudley.  
"What?" said Harry. "Um. there's still several weeks until my birthday, Dudley."  
"I know, but since we're leaving for Hawaii next week, I figured I won't have time to give it to you on your actual birthday."  
"Where did you find it?" asked Harry, still looking it over and admiring it.  
"I found it in the basement," he said. "It was in a box labeled 'Lily'"  
Harry immediately looked up at him. Lily? Lily Potter? His mother?  
"You mean my mom?" asked Harry quietly.  
"Yeah," said Dudley. "I think we got a box of her stuff from her will. Even though my mom hated her, she still couldn't throw it out."  
Harry looked at Dudley, then at the watch. Somehow, knowing that it had once belonged to his mother made it appear to be even more beautiful.  
"But why are you giving this to me?" asked Harry, putting the watch on.  
"Come on," said Dudley, smiling and patting Harry's shoulder, "can't a cousin do something nice every now an then, huh?"  
"Other cousins, yes I'm sure. You. no way," said Harry. Dudley let out a sigh "Harry, I haven't told anyone this. no one at all."  
"What is it?" asked Harry, interested.  
"Well, a little into my school year last year, I started having these dreams," said Dudley. "Only, these weren't dreams of floating in the air, or falling, or whatever. No, these were dreams with a message. They were telling me something."  
"What were they telling you?" asked Harry.  
"That I should be doing something that I'm not," said Dudley, extremely seriously. "So, I tried everything. I tried losing more weight, but the dreams wouldn't stop; I tried to do better in school, but the dreams wouldn't stop; I even tried having a girlfriend for a while, but that didn't make them stop.  
"So, one night, I laid awake in bed, contemplating what I could possibly be doing that I wasn't: being nice to you, treating you like a human being."  
"And have the dreams stopped?" asked Harry.  
"Ever since I proclaimed to myself that day that I would be nice to you for the rest of our lives. yes. I realized that I should have known to be that way ever since you first came here. Just because you can make glass appear, and talk to snakes doesn't mean you're a bad person. in fact, it makes you kind of cool."  
"Um. thanks Dudley," said Harry.  
"Hey, you want to come downstairs?" asked Dudley. "You must get awfully bored up here all by yourself."  
"Um. sure," said Harry, still overwhelmed by Dudley's sudden and complete change of heart. "Just let me check on Hedwig."  
"Alright," said Dudley, smiling as he left the room.  
Once Hedwig had been settled back into her cage, Harry sat down on his bed. So many questions were burning in his mind: Why was Dudley being so nice to him? Was it really because of the dream? And before. what was up with the black phoenix in his room? He didn't even know phoenixes came in black! And what had caused his forehead to hurt when he saw it? Harry rubbed his eyes and walked over to the mirror in his room, and lifted up his bangs to reveal a lightning shaped scar on his forehead.  
This scar made Harry even more unusual, even by wizard's standards. Harry was the only person to ever survive an encounter with Lord Voldemort, the most powerful and evil wizard in over a century. Voldemort barged into Harry's parent's house one night when Harry was only one year old. Voldemort killed his mother and father, and when he tried to kill Harry, his curse backfired, turning him into a weak, powerless creature that over a course of thirteen years returned back to his original power with the help of his most faithful servant, Peter Pettigrew or Wormtail. The reason Voldemort's curse had backfired is because his mom, Lily, sacrificed her life for Harry giving him a shield against Voldemort's powers. However, last year, Voldemort used some of Harry's blood to rise again, letting him get past Harry's shield.  
Ever since Harry's first encounter with Voldemort, he had received a lightning shaped scar as a symbol of where the curse hit him. It had hurt other times during the course of his life, but only when Voldemort had been close, or had an extremely evil thought. So, how could his scar have hurt when Voldemort wasn't near? It must have had something to do with the black phoenix that was in Harry's room.  
Now that Harry was thinking, what was that phoenix doing in his room? Was it a spy for Voldemort? The only other phoenix Harry knew of was Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes. But, Fawkes was red and beautiful and it most certainly didn't cause Harry to faint. This phoenix Harry just saw was black with dark flames all around it, it was like nothing Harry had ever learned or heard about.  
Harry suddenly remembered Dudley. He ran downstairs, avoiding the large mass of wrapping paper that was still there. He arrived at the bottom of the stairs, still being slightly cautious: this could be on of Dudley's more elaborate jokes. He still didn't trust him completely.   
"What took you?" asked Dudley, holding his hands behind his back like he did when he was hiding the Basilisk watch.  
Oh, um. nothing," said Harry. "What'cha got there?"  
"This," said Dudley, his eyes twinkling, "is the secret of my success."  
"What success?" asked Harry. Dudley looked surprised. He waved his hand all over his body.  
"How I lost over five hundred pounds!"  
"Oh, that success."  
"Yeah," said Dudley, not shrugging it off anywhere as fast as Harry was. "Anyway, here it is." He showed Harry what he was hiding behind his back. It was some sort of rectangular package. it looked like some sort of video game.  
"What is that?" asked Harry skeptically.  
"The single greatest thing ever." said Dudley, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The secret to my success."  
"How did that help you?"  
"Well," said Dudley, "whenever I got hungry, I just popped this video in, and watched it. Soon, I was far too busy laughing to worry about eating. Not only that, but this video taught me everything I know, like logic. I didn't understand it in school, but after just watching this, I finally comprehended how, if you weigh as much as a duck, then you are a witch."  
"Oh really." said Harry, wondering if Hermione weighed as much as a duck.  
"Come on," said Dudley, beckoning Harry to the living room, "let's watch it!"  
Harry, having already finished his little amount of summer homework, had nothing better to do. So, he decided to join Dudley in watching his little video. Though, he would have liked to have had some time to ponder and research that black phoenix he saw.  
They sat down, and Dudley put the movie on. For the next hour and a half, they bonded like they had never before. Laughing, repeating lines, and making fun of the movie together, it was a truly new experience to Harry, and he liked it.   
For the next week, Harry and Dudley watched the movie several times each day, while Uncle Vernon was at work, and Aunt Petunia was away visiting friends or shopping. Fairly soon, Harry and Dudley were practically acting out each scene together, Harry felt as though he were back at Hogwarts with Ron. only there had he ever had this much fun.  
But, once Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia popped their horrible heads into the house, Dudley transformed into a slightly less mean version of the way he used to be; he didn't want to look too changed in front of his parents. Apparently, he still thought very highly of them.  
Finally, the day came when the Dursleys would leave for Hawaii, and Harry would be sent to Mrs. Figg's house. Either out of a newfound respect for him, or a prolonged fear that he may break the magical rules to get revenge on them (Harry chose the latter) the Dursleys did not drive him to her house, but were allowing them to walk to her house since it was so close.  
"There'd better not be anything missing when we get home, boy," said Uncle Vernon to Harry, face to face as he was stepping into his car.  
"Of course not Uncle Vernon," said Harry, trying not to laugh. He shot Harry one last dirty look, and then climbed inside his car, and shut the door.  
"Goodbye Harry!" yelled Dudley, sticking his head and one arm out of his window As the car was pulling out of the driveway. That was a mistake.  
"What did you say?" asked Uncle Vernon, immediately stopping the car. Harry saw Dudley go red, recognizing what he did.  
"I. um. said goodbye to Harry," said Dudley nervously.  
"You do NOT say goodbye to that. thing!" said Aunt Petunia.  
"Oh come off it mom!" said Dudley. There were expressions of shock on Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and even Harry's face. Dudley never spoke like that to his parents.  
"Dudley. I."  
"Mom, why do you insist on treating Harry like that?" asked Dudley, appearing to look more confident while speaking freely now. "He's just as much a part of this family as I am and yet you keep treating him like he's some sort of diseased alien!"  
"Dudley!" yelled Aunt Petunia. "He is NOTHING like us! He does the. magic thing! He's.. different!"  
"Didn't you learn that we should accept other's differences in school, mom?" said Dudley. "Trust me, I've been spending the last week with Harry, and let me tell you, I wish I'd been spending the last fifteen years like that with him!"  
"DUDLEY!" yelled Uncle Vernon. "You've been associating yourself with him!? What is wrong with you!?"  
  
"No, what's wrong with YOU dad?" said Dudley.  
"We will discuss this later, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon, immediately turning the car back on, and backing the rest of the way out of the driveway. He evidently wanted to get out of there as fast a possible, before someone heard him say 'magic' or 'wizard'.  
"Goodbye Harry!" yelled Dudley from the car as they began speeding down the road. "Please, don't write to me! We've got some pretty big animals at school, and I don't want Hedwig to get hurt! And don't forget! We are the knights who say-" His last word was cut off, they were far away now. But, Harry knew he said 'nee'.  
Harry stood there for a few seconds, still staring down the road that the Dursleys had driven away on. From that moment on, he knew that things would be completely different between him and Dudley.  
Harry suddenly snapped back to reality, and remembered that he had to go to Mrs. Figg's house. He shuddered at the thought: cats everywhere, mess everywhere, old, cranky lady. yuck. The last thing he wanted to do was spend the rest of his summer vacation at her house. Harry stuck his hands into his pockets and began to think. what else could he do?  
Then, he felt a piece of parchment in his pocket, and he pulled it out. Harry hit himself on the forehead for not remembering Ron's map. Why spend the rest of summer with Mrs. Figg when he could spend it with Ron?  
  
Harry dashed back up to his room, and got ready to leave. Hedwig was in no condition to travel, she was still recovering from her massacre. That made him think: since the whole Weasley were wizards, and five out of nine of them are fully qualified, they should know more than he does about these things. Maybe they would know something about black phoenixes.  
Harry packed up all of his possessions (which did not amount to much) into his cauldron. He swing the cauldron onto his broom, and he put Hedwig in his jacket. Harry walked downstairs, and opened the door. The air was warm, but not humid at all. The sky was a perfect blue, and he was about to spend the rest of his summer with his best friend. Though, something was still troubling him: then black phoenix. But, he shouldn't let it get to him that much though. Chances are, Hedwig must've met it on one of her trips, and got in a fight. Maybe it came back to get revenge. And the fact that he fainted, maybe it didn't even have to do with his scar at all, maybe he bumped his head on his door (he was getting taller) or, maybe Uncle Vernon hit him, even though they had never physically abused Harry before. All in all, it was not that big of a deal, and Harry shouldn't let it spoil his good time.  
Suddenly, as Harry came out of thought, he realized he was already flying in the air. Harry lost his balance for a second at the initial shock, but then, he realized what was going on and got his balance back. Flying came more naturally to Harry than anything else in the magic world, which was probably why he didn't even realize that he was doing it.  
Harry took out Ron's map and attempted to decode the horrible handwriting. Ron's house didn't seem too far away from where Harry was, and if he went fast enough, he could make it there within the hour.  
  
Harry flew for what felt like only a few minutes to him since he was enjoying it immensely, it had been the first time he had flown in almost a moth, and it was and even greater feeling than he had remembered. It was no wonder he had that dream of flying, he was craving it so much.  
Ron's house was coming into focus, right beneath the clouds Harry was flying through. It was not that hard to miss, it was a massive house that leaned over to one side so much that you would expect it to fall over in the Muggle world, but in the magical world anything was possible.  
Harry zoomed down towards the house faster than he had ever done so before. He had never flown in such an open place as the open sky itself before, so he had never had the opportunity to gain as much speed. As he went closer and closer to the house, the anticipation of meeting Ron rose.  
Harry was soon just a few feet from the Weasley's house, he slowed down considerably, and when he was near their door, he came to a complete stop and dismounted. He put his broom over his shoulder, and walked up to the door.  
Harry, not being used to wizard doors, looked around for a doorbell. Instead, he found a shiny sphere that was attached to a gold rod coming out of the house right next to the door. Harry put his hand on the sphere, and it turned green. Harry then pushed down on it and when he pushed it all the way down, the entire Weasley house flashed a bright green, the same as the sphere had.  
This took Harry by such a surprise that he tripped over his cauldron that was behind him, and landed on one of his books. As he was rubbing his back from the initial pain, the door opened, and Mrs. Weasley appeared in the doorway. She was a plump woman with fiery red hair and a loving personality. As soon as she saw Harry lying on the ground, she cupped her hands over her mouth and ran out to him.  
"Oh my goodness! Harry! What are you doing here?" she asked.  
"Well. err. uh." mumbled Harry.  
"Oh, say no more! We're happy to have you, you know, and I'm sure Ron will be just delighted to see you. Come in, come in!" she offered Harry her arm, and he grabbed onto it. She helped him up, and they walked into the house. Once they were inside, Harry stood in the middle of the kitchen, looking around for Ron.  
"Harry dear, Ron's up in his room. You can put your stuff up there."  
Harry nodded, and walked over to the stairs. He had been to Ron's room so many times before, he knew where to go. But, just as he was about to go on the first step, he saw Mrs. Weasley coming down the stairs. She looked at him and her mouth dropped open.  
"Harry!" she said, "What- what are you doing here?"  
"Uh, you just let me in," replied Harry, slightly confused.  
"But I've been her the whole time- oh no." her face suddenly turned to an look of anger. "Those twins! Arg!" She stomped down the rest of stairs, and Harry moved out of the way. Just as he turned around though, he was face-to-face with another Mrs. Weasley. The Mrs. Weasley that opened his door was right behind that one, each had an expression of surprise and confusion on her face.  
Even though oddities were probably common in the world of wizardry, Harry had never experienced anything like this before. Seeing three copies of the same person at the same place and time was very strange. Suddenly, the Mrs. Weasley that Harry met when he turned around, spoke:  
"Fred! George! This time you've gone too far!" she said to the two others. Both turned red, and they said the same thing at once:   
"What do you mean?!"  
"Creating some sort of item that transforms you into someone else! The world just isn't prepared for that sort of thing, and neither is this house!"  
"How dare you yell at me! I'm your mother!" yelled the Mrs. Weasley that opened the door.  
"Fred, George! Change back right now!" said the Mrs. Weasley that Harry had met on the staircase.  
"No, you change back!" said the other two.  
Harry felt so confused right now, his brain should have exploded a while ago.  
"Sorry Fred, sorry George," said the Mrs. Weasley that was on the staircase calmly as she pointed to her eyes. "Your eyes gave it away, your item needs tweaking. I'll never forget that you both are the only ones in the family with blue eyes."  
After these words, the other two Mrs. Weasley's took out their wands, and pointed them at themselves.  
"Epistrefus!" they both yelled. Their skin suddenly turned into a clear liquid that quickly dripped off, collecting in a small puddle at their feet. When all the liquid had dripped off, Harry recognized what was left as Fred and George Weasley, Ron's older, identical twin brothers.  
"I can't believe you would play a trick on Harry! Especially since it's because of him that you even have those things at all!" said the real Mrs. Weasley.  
"Yeah, sorry Harry. It was just a perfect opportunity," said Fred.  
"We saw you flying in, and we just finished some of them," said George.  
"Oh, it's okay," said Harry, "I liked them. What were they anyway?"  
Fred and George looked at each other and smiled. They both reached into their pocket, and pulled them inside-out. About fifty, tiny gray spheres fell out, though they stayed suspended in mid-air due to Fred and George's magic.  
"They're Mirror Munchies! Only a galleon each, a huge bargain!" said George, smiling. "They transform you into whatever person is closest to you. Best used in crowds."  
"They took us forever to get right," said Fred. "Once we tested one on Ginny, and she turned into her toast. Once we got it to only change into people, we tested it on Ron, and every time he got near someone, he turned into that person. Now that was a confusing day."  
"Here Harry," said George, offering several Mirror Munchies to Harry. "Take some as a token of our gratitude. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have been able to get all the ingredients to make them." Harry took a few and put them into his pocket.  
"Oh yeah, and that'd be too bad. It's a real sad world without Fred and George's crazy stuff," said a voice coming down the stairs. Harry turned and saw Ginny Weasley coming down. Harry was amazed at the sight of her. He knew that she had a crush on him, but had never returned those feelings until now.  
Ginny must've grown over the summer, she was now just a little shorter than Harry, and her long flaming-red hair went all the way down her back. She walked over to a cabinet, took out a green apple, bit into it, and then walked back upstairs. Harry could still hear her eating, and he kept his eyes on her as long as he could.  
Harry decided to head up to Ron's room. He once again grabbed his stuff, and ran up the crooked steps to the very top. He came to a door that had a plaque on it that read: "Ronald's Room". Harry knocked, and he heard Ron say, "Come in." Harry opened the door, and walked through.  
Ron was on his bed reading some Quidditch book. When he looked over and saw Harry, his face turned to a smile, and he walked over.  
"Well I'm glad I went through all that trouble to make that map now," said Ron.  
"Yeah, thanks", said Harry as he set his stuff down on the floor. "That saved my life. The Dursleys were leaving for Hawaii, and if I didn't have your map, I would have had to stay with Mrs. Figg all summer."  
Harry walked over to Ron's bed to see what he was reading. The book was laying cover-up on top of the covers, it was Quidditch Tips and Tricks. Seeing the look of confusion on Harry's face, Ron spoke.  
"Well, it's a new year, and since there's an open spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, I guess I might try out." He shrugged his shoulders, and looked at Harry for his approval. Harry had been the youngest player on a Hogwarts Quidditch team, and his team had only lost one game while he was on it. He was the unspoken champion of Hogwarts Quidditch.  
"Sure, you'll do great Ron," said Harry who wasn't absolutely sure if that was true. Ron was an okay player, but Harry never seen him show the level of skill necessary to be on a team. Just then, one of the reasons Harry had come to the Weasley's, besides to be with Ron, came to his mind: the black phoenix.  
"Uh. Ron?" proposed Harry.  
"Yeah Harry," replied Ron, who began looking at his book again.  
"Um. well. your dad's a wizard, and so are three of you brothers and I was just. well. wondering if any of them had ever come across a. black bird before."  
Ron lifted up his head from the book, and raised an eyebrow.  
"What kind of 'black bird'," he asked.  
"More of a. black phoenix," said Harry.  
"A black phoenix? What are you talking about Harry." then suddenly his face dropped and went white, "did you see something Harry? What was it? Does it have something to do with You-Know-Who?"  
Harry didn't know what to say to this, so he just decided to tell the truth. He told Ron about what he saw when he entered his room, and what it had done to Hedwig. Ron was silent throughout the whole thing until the very end.  
"Well, I've never heard of such a thing, Harry. But-", he was cut off by the "dong" of a clock somewhere. Harry knew from previous experience that this was an alarm to signal when someone arrived home.  
"Hey! Dad's home!" said Ron excitedly. "If anyone of us knows anything about it, it'd be him!" Ron jumped up, and burst through the door when Harry stopped him.  
"No Ron!" he yelled after him. "I don't want them to think I'm crazy or anything, seeing a black phoenix, or that I got scared of a bird if it turns out to be nothing!" Ron turned around and looked at him.  
"Harry," said Ron, "this is more serious than a bird, an unknown phoenix somehow got into your room, attacked your owl, and put you into a state of unconsciousness! We have to know what it was!" He looked up, and saw the look of pleading on Harry's face. "Fine!" said Ron, changing hid mind. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll make up some other story."  
"Thanks Ron," said Harry.  
They walked downstairs quietly, and when they got to the bottom, Harry and Ron saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley at the table talking quietly. Harry and Ron came up to them.  
"Hey dad," said Ron, "uh. guess what Harry and I think we just saw through my. uh. telescope."  
Mr. Weasley looked at Ron suspiciously, stabbed a piece of meat with his fork, put it in his mouth, and started chewing. As he did so, he replied, "What? What did you see?"  
"We think we saw a black phoenix," said Ron.  
At this reply, Mr. Weasley swallowed his meat quickly and Mrs. Weasley dropped her fork that was almost to her mouth.  
"Now, what makes you think that son?" said Mr. Weasley in a loud voice.  
"Well um. uh." mumbled Ron.  
"It looked just like a normal Phoenix," said Harry, "only, it had black flames instead of red."  
Both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's eyes fell upon him, and then Mr. Weasley spoke,  
"Well then," he said, "if you ever see this 'black phoenix' thing again, um. call me up and I'll have a look, alright?" Harry and Ron nodded, and they sprinted back up the stairs not saying anything until they reached the top.  
"What was that about?" Ron asked Harry when they arrived back in his room.  
"Well," said Harry, "they either know nothing about it, or they do know something and they don't want to tell us."  
"Yeah well, I'll go with the second one," said Ron.  
"Me too," said Harry, "but for now, let's not worry about it. Hey, I've got an idea, let's go practice some Quidditch in your yard, ok?"  
"Yeah, that sounds good," said Ron. He grabbed his ancient broomstick from the corner of his room and he and Harry set out to play. They were later joined by Fred and George, and had a mini-game: Harry and Fred against Ron and George. Ron must have been practicing over the summer as Harry was having a tough time keeping up with him, even though he was on the superior broom. The game kept progressing for hours until both teams were tied at four-hundred-thirty. Harry, having been putting off catching the Snitch for so long as to prolong the game, decided it was time to stop, and caught in just a few seconds. After a few exclamations of accolade, they all went in.  
Just as they got inside the house, Mrs. Weasley had dinner ready, and they sat down at the unusually long Weasley table. The first thing Harry noticed as he sat down was Ginny. She was looking even nicer than usual dressed in light-blue not-formal dress. It made him notice her face even more. She appeared to have an expression on her face that read she both did and didn't want to be seen. Harry guessed she was trying to look nice for him since she liked him, but didn't want to actually say anything. Nevertheless, Harry and all of the Weasleys sat and began to eat.  
Harry hadn't eaten so well in over two months. Even though Dudley's horrific diet was over, the Dursleys decided to still keep Harry on it while they ate normally. Harry almost jumped in surprise when Mr. Weasley asked him is he wanted seconds.  
Despite the wonderful dinner, Harry was feeling quite uncomfortable as Mr. Weasley stared at him for almost the entire time. Harry noticed that Mrs. Weasley was doing the same, and wondered what it was all about. Perhaps they did know something he didn't. Harry ate the rest of his dinner very self-consciously, and when he finished, Ron declared that he had had enough and they both went upstairs, and to bed.  
Harry climbed into bed, and he and Ron talked for a while: about Quidditch, Hogwarts, just about everything that came to their minds. After they started running out of ideas, though, both of them slowly slipped into unconsciousness.  
Just as Harry was about to fall asleep, he heard a scratch at the window. He sleepily glanced over, and saw nothing there. As he looked away, trying to go back to sleep, he heard it again, louder this time. He sat up in his bed, climbed out, and went to the window. It was raining outside, and Harry could hear the thunder rolling in the distance, getting closer. Harry inspected the area, but saw nothing. He sighed and blamed the wind. Just as Harry was about to go back to his bed, lightning lit up the sky and a face appeared in the window. 


	3. 3: The Letter

CHAPTER 3 - THE LETTER  
  
Harry jumped back in fear. The lightning made the night sky appear to be day, and the face glowed bright. Just as Harry was about to yell in terror, he quickly gained control of himself, took a closer look at the face. It wasn't a human face, it was an owl! Harry opened the window and let the owl in. Instead of fluttering about and hooting as Harry expected him to do, it slowly and silently flew in as though it was trying to keep its presence a secret. Harry knew that this owl must have something important to deliver to the Weasleys, so he let the owl perch on his arm, and he walked downstairs to deliver it to them.  
The lights coming from downstairs showed that someone was down there and Harry hoped that it was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley so he could give them the owl. As Harry got closer to the door leading to the bottom floor, he heard voices. It was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and they were talking.  
"I just don't know Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley to her husband, "it just doesn't seem like the kind of thing they'd make up."  
"They didn't make it up Molly," replied Mr. Weasley, "The only people that know about black phoenixes are victims of Voldemort's attacks and the Ministry of Magic. So, how could they now about them without seeing one? They either did see one today, or."  
"Or? Or what?" she asked.  
"Or, Harry saw it and didn't want to tell us directly."  
Harry felt his blood go cold and his body stiffen. Mr Weasley suspected him!  
"Now Arthur, why would he do a thing like that?"  
"Well, why did Harry come here in the first place. I'd bet everything, he came here originally to ask us, then thought about it, and believed he'd sound weak and afraid if he did ask us, so he made up the story about seeing it through the telescope."  
"Well," replied Mrs. Weasley, sounding a little angry, "Harry told me the reason he is here is because the Dursleys went on vacation to Hawaii, and he didn't want to stay with the lady that usually watches him."  
"Molly, I've worked with Muggles enough to know that they do not take spontaneous trips like that. A trip anywhere, much less Hawaii, would probably take years of planning for them." They both stood there for a minute in silence pondering Mr. Weasley's comment.  
"Well, if he did see it," said Mrs. Weasley quietly, "then what should we do about it Arthur?" Mr. Weasley put his hand to his chin, and Harry could tell he was thinking.  
"I don't know Molly, I just don't know. Black phoenixes only meant one thing in my day: You-Know-Who. They were his symbol before the Dark Mark was, and they assisted in his destruction wherever he went. If he saw one, either Voldemort is near us, or spying on Harry."  
Harry decided this was not the best time to deliver the owl, so he headed back upstairs, all the way thinking about what Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had been talking about. Obviously, they did know something about the black phoenix but were unwilling to tell him. Why? Why did everyone still think he was a baby? Sure, he wasn't a legal adult yet, but still, he had faced Voldemort four times and gotten the best of him at every occasion. Why couldn't people treat him with more respect?  
Just then, the owl that had delivered the letter bit Harry's finger, causing him a small amount of pain. Harry shook his finger, and as he did, the letter fell off of the owl's leg. Harry looked down at it, and saw his name written on the front of the small envelope, not Mr or Mrs Weasley's. The letter was for him.  
Harry grabbed the letter and the owl, and ran back to Ron's room, careful to be quiet enough to not wake him up. He sat down on his bed, and opened the envelope, taking out the small piece of parchment inside. It read:   
Be alone at the front of your Aunt and Uncle's house tonight at midnight.   
That was it. There was no signature, no anything that would indicate who sent it. Then, it came to Harry. It must be a letter from Hogwarts telling Harry to go back with his Aunt and Uncle for the rest of the Summer.  
Dumbledore told Harry that he had used a very powerful charm on him so that whenever he was near family, Voldemort could not touch him. Now, with Voldemort rising again, Harry assumed that Dumbledore thought that even the Weasleys were not enough protection for him. Dumbledore could find a way to get the Dursley's back and be with him, even all the way from Hawaii.  
But then, Harry thought, if it was a letter from Hogwarts, why didn't it have the Hogwarts seal on it, or the professor's signature on it who sent it? Harry guessed that they wanted him back in a big hurry and they didn't have time for anything like that.  
Since the letter said to be there alone, Harry didn't wake Ron, but scribbled a note for him telling him that he was being forced to stay with the Dursley's for the rest of the summer. Harry slung his cauldron over his broom (with all his stuff in it), and started on his way downstairs.  
Just then, he remembered. Mr and Mrs Weasley were down there, and they would probably question him some more about the phoenix, and where he was going. Harry didn't really feel like dealing with that right now, he was very tired. He had to find another way out.  
Harry turned around, and saw the window in Ron's room that the owl had come through. Since it took up almost half of the wall, he, along with all his other stuff, could easily fit through it. Harry walked over to the window, and opened it. A brisk summer night's wind blew by him causing his teeth to chatter. Harry threw Hedwig (who was now well enough to fly) out the window, and then he flew out after her. They both flew as fast as they could all the way back to the place Harry had just tried to get away from.   
It was a little after midnight when Harry finally arrived back at the Dursley's house. It took him less time to return than going since he didn't have to decode Ron's map, he just remembered the way to go. Harry dismounted from his broom, and sat down on the stoop in front of the Dursley's house, feeling extremely disappointed and unhappy.  
Harry waited for a few minutes, and just when he was about to fall asleep, he heard footsteps coming closer from down the street. Harry stood up, and tried to see who was coming. Was is Dumbledore. Was it Hagrid? Who?  
Harry grabbed his stuff, and started walking towards the figure. As he got closer, it came into focus, and as soon as Harry saw who it was, he turned around and walked in the opposite direction, trying to get away from it as fast as possible without being seen.  
"Harry? Harry Potter? Is that you?" came the creaky old voice behind him. The voice that belonged to Mrs. Figg, the woman that the Dursley's were originally going to leave Harry with. Harry couldn't try and go the other way now, it was too late, she had spotted him. All he could do now was stand where he was, and wait for her to come over to him. Within seconds, she was right next to him.  
"Why, hello Harry!" she said. "Fancy meeting you here at this time!"  
"Hello Mrs. Figg," replied Harry with a sigh.  
"Oh, why the sigh Harry?," she asked.  
"Well, it's just that I was expecting to meet someone and-" She cut him off.  
"Well that's very nice Harry," she said. "Why don't you come in for some tea and cookies? You look like you're awfully cold."  
It was true. Even though it was a summer evening, Harry was very cold. In fact, the more he thought about it, the colder he got. Also, he thought to himself, Mrs. Figg's house wasn't too far away from where he was supposed to meet whoever was coming, so he could see them through the window, then come back when they arrived.  
"Alright," said Harry.  
"Excellent," said Mrs. Figg. She led the way to her house which was just as Harry remembered it. It was a perfectly green lawn with statues placed all over the yard, as if guarding the house.  
When Mrs. Figg opened the door, Harry didn't hear something that he had expected to. Mrs. Figg owned many, many cats, as some old women do, and whenever she used to open the door, Harry would hear all of the cats 'meow' in unison as if saying hello to her. This time, however, when she opened the door, there was just silence. Harry guessed she must've put her cats in the garage or something.  
They walked through the door, and into the house. Harry sniffed, and for once, could not smell a single cat. He could, however, smell the cookies, that were baking and the tea that was boiling. Before he could ask her what happened to her cats, she asked Harry a question:  
"So Harry, how have you been?" she asked nicely. Her voice seemed different. It was not weak and old anymore, but stronger and louder.  
"Oh, okay," Harry responded, not daring to tell her anything about the phoenix, Hogwarts, or anything else magical. "Um, Mrs. Figg, may I ask you a question?"  
"Certainly Harry," she responded in the same voice.  
"Um, what happened to your cats?" Mrs. Figg gave Harry a look he didn't expect, she smiled.  
"Well Harry," she said, still smiling, "I had to get rid of them all."  
Harry, not understanding how someone could get rid of their only friends and be happy asked, "But why? Why did you get rid of them?"  
"Because," she responded, "I got a dog."  
Harry, who liked dogs, smiled and followed Mrs. Figg who was leading him into the kitchen. Right in the middle of the kitchen was a black dog whom Harry was positive he'd seen before. Wanting to continue with some conversation, Harry asked her, "What is his name?"  
"Well," replied Mrs. Figg, now with a bigger smile, "I use the name he called himself before, Sirius Black." 


End file.
